ZINA
Zina's mind burned with how utterly foolish and stupid she had been. How she had thought she was something, whereas in reality she was nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
The Abandoned One.
Thralgor.
Those words repeated itself in her head like a terrible sutra. The chant threatened to drive her to the brink of madness.
She didn't know how long she sat huddled in a corner of the room, her face buried in between her legs and her body curled into itself. She stewed in a tormenting darkness that carried on for long… or perhaps it was just for minutes. Honestly, she didn't know.
What to do next? She was no longer curious to take her life. Indeed, hers was a useless one. But why bother?
No, she would live. But going further it will be on her own terms. She won't allow any man, woman, fake affection, kidnappers, horrible original family who are apparently too rich for their own good, or equally horrible adoptive family to dictate her life anymore.
With the same courage she used to accept the Alpha King's command, she finally took two steps away from her horrible thoughts. Straightening herself, the first thing Zina did was to ask a servant to summon Seraph from the inn. Being that she knew nobody, it was best to deal with someone she at least knew.
Really, what drove her to think of Seraph was from trust. No, it was a familiarity issue
At first, the servant had been hesitant. Apparently, lowly slaves from outside the palace were not allowed in the palace without due authorisation.
But one icy glare from Zina had the servant scrambling to obey the Theta's command. An hour later into the night that was already giving way to early morning, Seraph stumbled into her quarters.
"Great Seer!" She cried out, "I see you're well!"
It occurred to Zina that Seraph probably knew nothing of the crime she committed that night. But the young girls next words proved her wrong,
"Seer Zina, I cannot believe that Prince Daemon NorthSteed will do such a thing! You must care for yourself! I hear he is a calm and gentle man, but that must have been a false personality he wears to cloak the true nature of his ruthlessness!"
So the news must have spread like wildfire.
Calm and gentle? Zina didn't think those were the right words to describe him. But ruthless didn't seem right either.
Without thinking about it, Zina asked the young girl, "Do you truly think he is capable of committing such a crime?"
"No matter what, you must be careful! People such as myself do not concern ourselves with the true hearts of our superior. If they can take our life whenever they deem it fit, what more about taking the life of their father."
The despondence in her words scared Zina who thought she had hardened her resolve. But she was finding out that it was no easy feat to harden her heart.
Seraph must have seen something etched to her face for she said, "Great Seer you must not be scared. The gods are with you, no one can touch you so easily."
Zina, internally scoffing at her latter words, thought hard about what she must do next, and it came to her.
"Tell me," Zina implored, her voice at a breaking point. "How do haughty people appear?"
"What do you mean, Miss?" Seraph quizzed, and Zina could very well hear the confusion in her words.
Swallowing hard, and hating that she would remind the girl of bad memories, Zina fired on, "The woman that beats you… how does she appear? What is her body posture?"
"Ahhh…" Seraph said as she realised what Zina was asking. Surprisingly, there was no sadness in her voice.
In a hate-filled voice, she started to describe, "Her shoulders are hunched up, her chin tipped up. Sometimes, she has a hand on her waist with her chest thrusted up in the air as if to make a point."
"And her legs? How does she stand?"
Seraph's voice did not betray any confusion she must have felt at Zina's strange line of questioning, "Her legs are spread out… just slightly. Enough to convey just how domineering she is."
Zina registered all the information, hoping it was not too late to perform her last duty to Daemon NorthSteed. The middle-aged woman's prophecy to her churned in her mind, and at the same time, the sound of a heavy bell being rung reverberated through the room.
Seraph fell to the floor, the sound startling Zina.
What had happened, she wondered.
In a trembling voice, Seraph spoke. "The Alpha King has passed away."
Zina froze as it occurred to her that the girl must have felt the bond with the Alpha slip away.
Filled with trepidation, Zina inquired, "Do you feel a new bond?"
"Indeed," Seraph cried out. Her voice particularly pained, she was just an omega afterall, "the Arctic Wolf has been reborn again."
Zina clutched at her dress, biting her lips. Was it Daemon? If it was him, then just like in her visions, he would certainly die. But one of Zina's excuses in telling the false vision was to avoid that very fate. She didn't believe it would be Daemon… not when his death that gave way to banishment had already been declared.
So who was it?
A knock sounded on the door, and the voice of a woman spoke, "Theta Zina, may I come in?"
Zina heard the unmistakable sound of Seraph sucking in her breath, "Theta?" She questioned, both glee and fear etched to her voice. Zina had an inkling that the fear was not reserved for her, and she confirmed it later when the knocking woman stepped in.
"Theta Zina, the former Theta summons you."
Titles were changing so fast that Zina had a hard time keeping up with them.
Glaring in the direction of the woman for the sole reason that it seemed she was the one responsible for the smell of fear that was emitting for Zina in droves, Zina said in the coldest voice she could muster. "If that is all, then you may leave."
The woman, of course, did not leave.
"I must take back the girl." She said,
Zina took a step in her direction, "Seraph now serves the Theta of the NorthSteed pack. Do you still wish to take her?"
In a much more placating voice that still held her former hardness the woman spoke, "If you're in need of a servant Theta, I will make available as much as you want. However, this girl won't be able to serve you well. She is disobedient, a cursed seductress, and a trouble monger. Allow me to take away this trouble from you."
Zina took another step closer. So this was the woman who beat Seraph.
"And I said she now serves me. If you wish to take her, then you must walk over my dead body."
The woman gasped, as if the idea that she must take Zina's life before she could collect Seraph was outrageous.
"Theta, it is true that you enjoy a high post. However, she is an official slave and can't be claimed without due authorization from the office of the Delta."
"Then you must be a family member of the Delta."
"Indeed."
"I shall remember you."
A foreboding silence fell in the room. Despite the woman's seemingly placating words, Zina could very well hear the undertones of haughtiness tucked in between them.
The woman obviously looked down on her, the girl she called Theta.
And without another word, the woman left.
"I am eternally grateful for your help, Great Seer, but you must not offend a family as prestigious as that of the Delta's for my sake."
"If I save you from her hands, can you be of any help to me?" Zina asked coldly.
"I… I." The girl stammered as if unsure of what to say.
"When I questioned you before, you sounded like you were more than you gave away. Even now, do you still wish to hide yourself away from someone such as myself who is without eyes to see?"
"I shall serve you! If you save me, I shall be your eyes! I shall never betray for I will be incapable of doing so." The girl declared solemnly like a warrior at the war front.
Zina smiled shrewdly, "Incapable of doing so?"
"I once made a vow. That whoever saves me from the torment I live in I shall owe my life."
"So I am to trust in this vow of yours? Is that yet another practice from the place you came from?"
"I… I."
"Fine." Zina said, because it didn't really matter. With the change of events that night, it was unclear whether she would survive. "I want you to step out and inquire for where Alpha Prince Daemon is at together with the location of Theta Amelia."
"I will do that right away!"
"You must be careful. If your former master is to lay eyes on you again, I might not be able to do anything for you."
"I will." Seraph declared solemnly, and with that, she bolted out of the room.
The wait was terrifying on Zina's side. With the bell continuously being rung, time passed like water. It was an hour before Seraph returned, and even Zina was unable to hide her immense relief that it seemed she made it out unscathed.
The smell of blood hit her, causing her to frown. "Blood?"
"Do not mind it Great Seer, I simply scraped at my knee." Seraph said, breathing hard. It didn't seem as though she was lying.
"Prince Daemon is preparing to leave tonight. I believe an hour from now, he and his retinue will exit the castle."
"And Theta Amelia?"
"She awaits you at the Pack's shrine. I shall lead you there if you must."
Zina nodded grimly, and together, they made their way to the shrine of the NorthSteed Pack to meet the woman she was to replace.
ZINA
"Thank you for agreeing to meet me." Theta Amelia said the moment Seraph left them alone.
Zina was slightly surprised at the warmness of her voice. Was the Theta not supposed to be angry at her for stealing her position with despicable allegations.
Unwittingly, Zina's mind went back to Modrich's earlier words. On the sixtheth birthday of Alpha Belmore WolfKnight, Zina had seen a vague vision of the rising of the WolfKinght's which was in fact a former prestigious pack.
She had told the vision amongst cheers and laughter, and everyone had looked onto that future with anticipation. Zina, herself, had imagined that she would become the Theta of the WolfKnight's in their eventual rising. Little did Zina know that she would be the cost of such visions. Indeed, her spiritual sight loved to play a cruel game on herself.
"You seem laden with thoughts. And I can see you've taken off the blindfold."
"I felt like setting my eyes free."
"You do look better without the blindfold on. Your eyes, they see the world."
Zina was surprised at the turn of their conversation. And because the suspense was killing her, she probed, "Why have you summoned me?"
"Impatient I see."
"Would anyone be otherwise if they were in my situation?"
"I've long been waiting for you."
Zina's breath caught in her throat at the words that sounded like a confession.
"You've been waiting for me?" Zina repeated in askance.
"I will make this quick," the woman said, ignoring her question, "twenty-two years ago, my predecessor told the now Late Alpha King a vision."
Zina tried to act as if hearing that a man that once lived and breathed earlier that night was now late was a normal thing.
"What was this vision?"
"That greatness was born in his house, and that greatness must take a price to survive."
"Who is this greatness?"
"Who he is doesn't matter as much as what he is to fight against."
"What is this greatness to fight against?" Zina asked in a voice tinged with dread.
"The very thing that Salin saw in her visions tonight."
Zina stilled, Salin was the middle-aged seer from that night.
"The deformed," Zina muttered, her voice possessing an otherworldly distance to it, "she also called me the bringer of doom."
"May I tell you a story?" Theta Amelia said with a lightness to her words.
Zina, not knowing how to respond, merely nodded. She had expected her to lash out, scream at her, but instead all Zina could feel was how calm she was.
A calmness that slightly unnerved her.
"Have you heard about how our continent Vraga came to be?"
"There are many creation stories, but we descended from the Great Beast Wolf no?"
"Indeed, there are many creation stories, but the one which I shall tell you is certainly a story you haven't heard for it doesn't exist in a small village such as the one you were raised in. To say in fact, it is a love story. But it is also a very short one."
Zina didn't say anything to that as the word 'love' hovered between them like a deadly whisper.
"The moon once walked a void empty earth, where only things that slithered in the shadow existed. She was a woman, albeit an exquisite one. With unmatched beauty, the things that slithered in the shadow had no chance to vie for her heart, or her hand.
"But the Great Beast Wolf coveted her. Knowing he was no match for her hand as he too was lacking in beauty, he scoured the entire lands in search of a thing worthy of the moon's delight. One day, at the ends of the continent, the Great Beast stumbled on a creature with fine features. Two eyes, two ears, one nose, and one mouth all well aligned. The creature walked on two legs and swung two arms. He had an upper body and lower body each well defined, and to say but the least, he was a very fine thing.
"The creature was called human. And the Great Beast hunted it and possessed it. At will, he could change between beast wolf and human. In human form, he seduced the Moon and laid with her. Before Moon discovered his treachery, she was already pregnant with his child. She gave birth to twins in what was a most turbulent birth. One of her child was peculiar, and had the ability to shift between man and wolf, but the other…."
"What about the other?" Zina asked in the silence that followed her trailed words.
"The other possessed not the fine qualities of the moon, nor the archaicness of the beast wolf. No, this child was a culmination of all their twisted desires; the Great Beast Wolf's greed, and the Moon's titillating rage. The first child was named Vraga and he found our continent, and the other, he was given no name, cast into the mountains to die. They said he cursed Vraga, that of his descendants, once in every decade, he will surely appear, and of the mountain he was cast into, he will surely multiply."
"Does this tale hold any truth in the slightest?" Zina inquired, baffled.
"It is what it is. I hear you foretold Luna Savage's pregnancy of a Deformed?"
Zina was silent at that.
"They're coming, Zina. You shall fight many fights; against the new Alpha King, against yourself, and against the packs who will later chant for your death. But no fight will be fiercer than the one to be fought against the Deformed."
For the first time that night, goosebumps ghosted over Zina's skin as the woman's words properly sank in.
"Who is the new Alpha King?" Zina asked instead in a pained voice, knowing fully well that whoever it was was the person behind her treachery in one way or the other.
"Eldric NorthSteed, the fifth legitimate son of the late Alpha King," the woman said grimly. As if to confirm that she too in fact, was aware of Zina's treachery, she added,
"Are you pained that you accused the wrong man? Or perhaps, you're pained that the price of your false accusation was nothing?"
The word 'nothing' hung between them. And Zina, the girl who hardly cried, felt her tears surface for the umptenth time that night.
But this time around, it spilled.
Her meeting with Theta Amelia could be a set up. An attempt to expose her crimes, and yet, Zina didn't resist the prompting to pour out her heart.
"So this Eldric is the one who murdered the King and claimed his throne." Zina laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation, her tears still rolling down.
The woman was strangely silent.
"Why?" Zina whispered, "why did the powers unknown that apparently control our power to see not expose him?"
A hand rested on her shoulder as if to give her comfort, "I too, saw the death of the Alpha King. That he would die in the hands of one of his sons, but whenever I tried to see what son it would be, a young woman as beautiful as the goddess, with hair as white as snow, and eyes as white as the moon was the one who appeared in my dreams."
Zina's breath hitched in her throat.
"It is you who I saw." The woman added as if to confirm what Zina already suspected.
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